Dear Supporters,
The Toronto Star that published an article on LED headlights on July 20, 2024.
(https://www.thestar.com/life/autos/annoyed-by-headlight-glare-at-night-youre-not-alone-heres-why-its-become-a-problem/article_bccb5dcc-1d26-11ef-a513-2f880fd3b0b8.html).
The article shows that the understanding of what is truly wrong about LED headlights is becoming more well known. Below are a few comments from the Soft Lights Foundation on quotes from the article.
Quote: "Today’s LED (light-emitting diode) headlamps are often so bright many drivers experience disabling glare that can compromise their vision, judgment and response times." - We agree.
Quote: "The European approach, adopted by virtually the entire world, except North America, assumes glare is bad for safety." and "The U.S. approach is to prioritize maximum seeing distance, so low beams are aimed higher and further down the road." We agree. The arrogance of US regulators at NHTSA is that the driver of the vehicle should be allowed to blast their lights as far down the road, at the highest intensity, and with blue wavelength light as much as they want, and forget about any other driver or pedestrian coming towards that vehicle. The NHTSA FMVSS-108 sets no limit on intensity for the area directly in front of the vehicle and sets no limit on the use of blue wavelength light. This is why the Soft Lights Foundation submitted regulatory petitions to NHTSA. (https://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/NHTSA-Petition-to-Limit-Headlight-Intensity.pdf) and (https://www.softlights.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/NHTSA-Petition-to-Limit-CCT.pdf).
Quote: "With the LED revolution, headlamps are putting out more light, while designers insist on using smaller, slimmer lamp assemblies that concentrate the light." We agree.
Quote: "The glare of nighttime traffic is vastly more likely to come from low beams and auxiliary lamps, Stern says." We agree.
Quote: "“Lights have become more blue, a wavelength that creates more glare,” says Haycock." We agree.
Quote: "In reality, the adaptive driving beam, or ADB, technology is largely used to address high-beam use now, and the systems don’t engage below 60 km/h. The technology is useless on busy city streets." We agree that ADB is designed to INCREASE the use of high beams, and does nothing to solve the intensity and blue wavelength issues for LED low beams.
The Soft Lights Foundation is pleased to see more articles in the media starting to address the actual issues of debilitating LED headlights. There is a systemic failure by the US Congress and NHTSA to solve this crisis and we hope that future articles will hold government officials accountable for their failures.
Sincerely,
Mark Baker
President
Soft Lights Foundation
www.softlights.org
mbaker@softlights.org